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East of the Sun

By Julia Gregson

(5)

| Paperback | 9781409102519

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EAST OF THE SUN by Julia Gregson

“Look well to this day, For it is life. In its brief course lies all the realities of existence. For yesterday is but a memory and tomorrow only a vision.” A Sanskrit Poem Reviewed by Jana L. Perskie (JUN 28, 2009) Each year, in the 17th, 18th and 19 ... (read full critics)

mostlyfiction published on Thu, 30 Sep 2010

Book review: Julia Gregson's *East of the Sun*

East of the Sun Julia Gregson Touchstone Paperback 608 pages June 2009 When three young women and a troubled boy travel with the British “Fishing Fleet” on the Kaiser-l-Hind in 1928, they all harbor expectations of their eventual arrival in Bombay, I ... (read full critics)

curledup published on Tue, 7 Sep 2010

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3 Reviews

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Synopsis
Autumn 1928. Three young women are on their way to India, each with a new life in mind. Rose, a beautiful but naive bride-to-be, is anxious about leaving her family and marrying a man she hardly knows. Victoria, her bridesmaid couldn t be happier to get away from her overbearing mother ... (continue)

Synopsis
Autumn 1928. Three young women are on their way to India, each with a new life in mind. Rose, a beautiful but naive bride-to-be, is anxious about leaving her family and marrying a man she hardly knows. Victoria, her bridesmaid couldn t be happier to get away from her overbearing mother, and is determined to find herself a husband. And Viva, their inexperienced chaperone, is in search of the India of her childhood, ghosts from the past and freedom. Each of them has their own reason for leaving their homeland but the hopes and secrets they carry can do little to prepare them for what lies ahead in India. From the parties of the wealthy Bombay socialites, to the ragged orphans on Tamarind Street, EAST OF THE SUN is an utterly engaging novel that will captivate readers everywhere.
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wgeddert said on Jul 28, 2008 | Add your feedback

I did enjoy this but did not find it as captivating as I had expected to, both from reviews read and from the fact that it won the UK Romantic Novel of 2009 award. It was an enjoyable read though maybe my opinion was clouded because a favourite author of mine did not win the award.
In 1928, three ... (continue)

I did enjoy this but did not find it as captivating as I had expected to, both from reviews read and from the fact that it won the UK Romantic Novel of 2009 award. It was an enjoyable read though maybe my opinion was clouded because a favourite author of mine did not win the award.
In 1928, three young women leave the United Kingdom to start what they hope will be new lives in India. The first protagonist we meet is Viva Holloway who wishes to return to India having spent some of her childhood there. She has very confused memories of the past and hopes that sorting these out will give her peace of mind and freedom from her demons. She is twenty eight and finds herself working her passage to India as chaperone to the other three protagonists of the story, all at least ten years or so her junior.
Rose, niave and anxious about her future is travelling to India to marry her fiancé Captain Jack Chandler in Bombay, a man she barely knows. She is accompanied by her best friend Victoria ‘Tor’ Sowerby who was to be her bridesmaid. While Rose is moving to India for love, Tor hopes to find love whilst there. So that she does not have to return home to England and her over powering mother.
Full of hope and excitement these young women are far from prepared for all that lies ahead of them in India. All looking for that fairy tale ending the girls all become close friends as they mature into stronger individuals.
The young man Guy who is the third young person whom Viva chaperones on the journey, turns out to be a most unpleasant and confused young man due to mental health issues, that were not properly understood. He actually turns out to aggravate a lot of the problems they later have in India.
For me the novel was more a historical novel of suspense than strongly romantic, the story is rather dramatic at times as it is set in the period of violence caused by the coming of the end of British rule in India. Viv, Rose, Tor and Guy are all trying to cope with their own personal problems and battles for independence, amidst the background of a country fighting for the very same thing.
In all this was a vividly descriptive and enjoyable read.

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Lindyloumac said on Mar 26, 2010 | Add your feedback

*** This comment contains spoilers! ***

I wasn't too sure about this book when I first started to read it. It didn't quite grab my attention, and I wasn't sure that I'd like any of the three main characters. But I persevered. And came to really quite enjoy it. The story is set in 1928, and our heroes are off to India. One to start a new l ... (continue)

I wasn't too sure about this book when I first started to read it. It didn't quite grab my attention, and I wasn't sure that I'd like any of the three main characters. But I persevered. And came to really quite enjoy it. The story is set in 1928, and our heroes are off to India. One to start a new life with her fiancée whom she really doesn't know. One to serve as bridesmaid but really part of the "Fishing Fleet" off looking for a husband. And the third is looking for independence and a new life in an old home.
This last, Viva is the oldest of the three at 25, she has been employed as a chaperone for the other two, as well as to another teenager, the possibly troublesome Guy.
It is these characters that made the novel, because, although they are in many ways stereotypes, they are well-written and well-described. And as I got to know them I became more interested in what was going on in their lives. However the first quarter of the book or so it quite slow. And all of it is quite conversational, which I liked, but others may not.
It is, in essence, an historical romance, detailing how the three women deal with love and men in general. And I had a little bit of an issue with this.
**Spoilers
Why is it that books with "independent women" always end with them realising that they aren't independent or happy without a man. Yet books about independent men can easily end without a female companion. Of course, given the time setting I guess it is understandable. There were just so many things a single woman couldn't do back then.***
The ending was a little bit too quick and settled for me, at least for some of the characters, others, well, we're left wondering how exactly their lives are going to turn out.
Overall it was a good, very readable novel, once you got into it that is.

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Dee said on Jan 5, 2010 | Add your feedback